Just a week before packing up and heading to Wisconsin for EAA AirVenture, Daher celebrated the firm's 900th aircraft delivery—a TBM delivered to an owner in Jacksonville, Florida.

Photo by Jill Tallman.

The company, based in Tarbes, France, has delivered 238 TBM 900s, 910s, and 930s, said Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher's airplane business unit. As of July 15, there were 261 TBMs on order, he said.

Daher Chief Executive Officer Didier Kayat said by 2023, the company wants to expand its footprint so that one-third of its business is in the United States. Half of the market is located here, he said.

Chabbert also offered an update on the company's Me & My TBM app, announced in April. Twenty-five aircraft are equipped to share data with the app, including cruise speeds, fuel states, interstage turbine temperature, remaining fuel, oil temperature, pressure, consumption, and quantity levels; start, takeoff, cruise, and approach parameters; cost-splitting, and more engine and flight variables. Daher is exploring a retrofit solution so that owners of older aircraft can also use the app.

Future versions of the app will offer an improved interface and integration of a 3-D view, Chabbert said.

A new incentive program for owners, My TBM Challenge, allows pilots to compare their flying characteristics with others in the community. They can earn points for each trip they take. Any pilot who earns 500 points in a month is eligible to receive a Bad Elf Wombat portable receiver that lets the user update GPS databases using mobile devices.

Chabbert said he participated in My TBM Challenge on the ferry flight from Europe to the United States, and earned 996 points.